


Possibilites

by marsakat



Series: teleportation!au [2]
Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Ending, Angst, Cheating, Choose Your Own Ending, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Prompt Fill, Suicide Attempt, Teleportation, basically I couldn't decide on what ending to commit to so I wrote three
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-17
Updated: 2016-05-19
Packaged: 2018-06-08 22:57:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6878242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marsakat/pseuds/marsakat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tyler didn't think he'd miss getting teleported, but there was something not right, something wrong with it all.  What was Josh hiding from him? </p><p>Three possible endings, you pick</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> So this is going to be a quick fic, just three different endings after the prologue that I'll post as individual chapters.  
> Prompt: (teleportation au) after the pranking ends, Tyler starts to notice that he hasn't been teleporting as much as he used to, almost as if Josh is desperately avoiding thinking about him and that's really concerning to him. Josh clearly doesn't want Tyler to know what's going on in his life

Tyler didn’t know if he was exaggerating the issue, but as he realized that Josh hadn’t teleported him more than a handful of times in several weeks, it became an obsessed worry.  Tyler would think back to the few instances and they all were just for sex reasons (Tyler tried to dismiss thoughts of being used).  The rational part of his mind decided the lack of teleportation was just because they were always together (bandmates, boyfriends, best friends, whatever), or maybe the teleportation itself was wearing off?

But, as with everything, Tyler had doubts.  They whispered that Josh was deliberately not thinking of him, avoiding him.  Or if not that, it meant Josh didn’t need him, and that was just as bad.

And then Tyler noticed Josh himself was acting strange, and when Tyler called him on it, Josh would just said that he was tired—they had been touring nonstop forever now. 

But why was he avoiding Tyler’s eyes? Where was he going when he went out alone? What was on his phone that he was hiding it from Tyler or talking in hushed voices, leaving the room for calls?

What was Josh’s secret?

Life has infinite possibilities, a sea of possible universes and conclusions.

Here are three endings.


	2. Bang the Doldrums

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Your heart can only be broken if you let it, or that's what he tells himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't read this while listening to "When She Loved Me" from Toy Story 2. Srsly

Tyler had trust issues and everyone knew it.  He was possessive though most of the time it was just joking; however, it had always been different with Josh, even when they were _just friends_.  Maybe Tyler had always known Josh was his special someone, and seeing him with other people drove Tyler crazy.

Could Josh help how well liked he was?  Josh was usually quiet in interviews and on stage, but when it was more smaller and more intimate, people absolutely adored him.  When other musicians would talk about their band, it was always Josh they’d mentioned.  Tyler was too introspective, too busy doing his own thing to casually hang out as much as Josh did.  Josh was cool, Josh was the nicest person he knew, and Tyler was just lucky to be along for the ride.

He felt so lucky that Josh had picked him back.  To have the love reciprocated--Tyler felt completed for once in his life.  To be wanted to much that Josh pulled him through time and space to be together.

And while Tyler was good at pretending and remembering the good times where they would lie next to each other for hours, he could only ignore the signs for so long.  Josh starting going out without him to bars and clubs again, and return so late that Tyler wasn’t sure if he came back at all.  Then there were those endless mysterious calls and texts.

Now the teleportation wasn’t happening for sex anymore, just when Josh was bored and wanted to hang out.  So Tyler knew Josh had moved on to someone or someones better—obviously Tyler was bad in bed or something.  He just wanted to know what he did wrong?  Why wasn’t he good enough?

* * *

“Tyler, I think we should stop.”  Josh dropped the bombshell after a show.  They were in the back lounge alone and it was too late at night to have this painful of a conversation.

“What do you mean? Break up the band?"  Tyler was sitting so stiffly; all limbs crossed and joints locked.  It hurt, but pretending he was frozen still stopped the twisting, burning in his stomach.

“No!  No, I mean us…you know, this thing we do.  I just don’t—it wouldn’t be good for the band, and I can’t have that happen to us.  I care a lot about you, so I’m doing this for us, before it destroys what we live for.”  Josh wasn’t looking at him, but Tyler wasn’t looking either, studying at the ceiling.  He wouldn’t let the tears spill over the edges of his eyes.

“Josh, I just—but, why? I thought you were happy with me.”  Tyler didn’t mean to let his voice break like that.  He didn’t want to sound pathetic as Josh dumped him, but here he was.

“I am happy with you, but I think we’re better off friends.  Besides it wasn’t like we were official or anything, right?  It was fun, but it’d be healthier if we didn’t do...that anymore with each other.”

But hadn’t they been dating, and maybe even in love?  Was he just some casual fling for Josh?  But wasn't Josh just completely fucking with his head, because Tyler could clearly remember many strolls with fingers tangled together, nights spent curled and facing each other with heads sharing a pillow—God, Tyler had even said the word ‘boyfriend’ to Josh’s face multiple times and Josh hadn’t shut him down then.  Was this just a way for Josh to cleanse himself of cheating on Tyler?

Because Tyler could see the little discolorations decorating Josh’s skin that he tried hard to cover up.  And the scratches along his back from fingernails too long to be Tyler’s.  The signs had been there for weeks, but Tyler would never say.

He hadn’t been enough for Josh.  Whatever the drummer was looking for, Tyler couldn’t fill that void or please him in what way he truly needed.

_When somebody loved me, everything was beautiful_

Tyler refused to shed any tears over Josh Dun (that’s a damn lie, he cried himself to sleep for two weeks straight.  And then again once Josh started dating pretty girls and boys that were so much better than he could ever be).

Tyler would act like he didn’t live for the moments Josh would touch him like the old times.  When Josh was bored or horny—Tyler would let Josh fuck him when he was drunk and Tyler was sober, and that was so, so wrong.  He hated himself every time, though Josh would giggle the next day and say that was just something ‘they did’.  Friends helping friends.

_Better off as lovers and not the other way around_

Then there were the days Josh was low, and he’d beg Tyler to chase the pain away with kisses covering tear tracks, trying to drive all bad thoughts from his brain as Tyler pounded into him.  He was so vulnerable in those moments, and Tyler wanted to paint the stars with Josh’s shining eyes.

Tyler was happy for him when Josh found someone else (no he wasn’t. he wanted josh more than anything in the world.)

Tyler will find his someone else (no)

Tyler wasn’t broken.

(yes)

_And I cast a spell over the west to make you think of me_  
_The same way I think of you_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Work a thirteen hour shift, logically write 2k words of angsty fic afterward...y'all just wait till next chapter.


	3. Addict With A Pen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If he could take the pain away, he would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Major trigger warnings for suicidal thoughts and actions! Stay safe friends

He should’ve seen this coming.  Tyler was the biggest, most self-centered asshole that just wanted to pretend that it was all fine and dandy.  That Josh’s panic attacks weren’t getting more frequent and scary, bringing Tyler from wherever he was to rock the shaking body in his arms.  Josh was unable to pin a single trigger besides the erosion of years away from home and safety. A husk of who he used to be.

But then it all culminated to a complete stop.

Tyler should’ve known that it wasn’t a sign that things were looking up.  It just was being better hidden, and it should’ve scared him that now Josh was hiding from him.

Josh was always hiding, and Tyler was too easy in letting him do it, happy to ‘let him work through it’ rather than confront what was wrong.  He wouldn’t say anything when Josh would turn off all the lights when they’d have sex.  He thought it was for some self-conscious reason, but really it was to hide the even red lines decorating Josh’s hips and thighs.

Tyler didn’t question when Josh would prefer to bury his face in the pillow as Tyler slid into him, kissing the back of his neck and whispering how beautiful Josh was to him.  He stopped asking if Josh came, because Josh would shrug and say it didn’t matter, and that disturbed him.  He should’ve said something, since the sex was just another way for Josh to self-harm.  Tyler would’ve said something if he knew the pillow was soaked with Josh’s tears, but he probably wouldn’t. 

* * *

When the  _pullingpushingdrag_ came, Tyler expected the typical scene of Josh rocking back and forth and this bathroom looked like how it usually happened.  But Josh wasn’t in the corner.  He was fully clothed in a bathtub full of reddening water and Josh’s eyes were hazy as they met Tyler’s horrified, numbed gaze.

Josh reached a hand towards him, red dripping down.

“Needed to say goodbye”

Tyler rose up, grabbing under his arms, and Josh stood shakily.

“Feels so good,” Josh tried crumbling, but Tyler supported his weight and pulled him out of the tub.  A quick examination of Josh’s wrists was enough to show that he hadn’t made a fatal slash, had gone in the wrong direction, but tried his damned hardest.  Either way, he was in crisis, and Tyler had to call for Michael, and then an ambulance.

“So warm” Josh shivered and shook as they waited.  Tyler wanted to tell him that he wasn’t dying, but he couldn't wipe the peaceful, blissful look off his face.  It was only going to get harder from here, so Tyler let Josh have this moment of happiness thinking it’d all be over.

* * *

They wouldn’t let Tyler see Josh for a week, finally letting him into a therapy session where they went back and forth for over an hour, highlighting exactly when and where Tyler went wrong.  He hadn’t had more of an urge to violently throw himself out of the window in years, though it was the psych unit—of course all the windows were reinforced glass.

“I can’t do this anymore,” Josh’s voice was ragged.

“I know.”

“I’ve gotta…I’ve gotta leave the band.”

“But Josh, you always say music is what saved you.  That drumming is your therapy.”

“It was.  And then it wasn’t.  I’ve spent so much of my life being a drummer, being your shadow—and no I don’t want to be the frontman.  I just want to be…I want to know who I am besides that.  And I’m so tired.  I can’t deal with being on tour for years on end.  I need it all to stop.”

“We can go on hiatus.  You know I’d wait for you however long you need it.”

“I know.  But I can’t be the one to take your music away from you.  You would die without it and I could never live with that guilt.”

Tyler said nothing because it was true.

_It’s all that I have and it’s all that I need._

“Please just let me leave.”

“No.  You can’t leave me.”

“Tyler, please.  I need this.”

“I-I can’t have you put a finality on it.  Let’s just say you’re taking a break.  It would be terrible to have a different drummer, but I’d do it.  You can take all the time you need.”

Josh sighed, knowing that was the only compromise he’d get. 

Maybe he never came back.  Maybe Josh realized it was time to move on—Tyler was better off with someone more stable, and so was he.  They still stayed friends, meeting occasionally.  It was funny to look back and realize they were only best friends for a few short years of their lives—drifting away sooner than either had pictured.  And Josh met a girl, settled down, had kids.  And it was great.

Or maybe he took that time to recover, let the medicine work fix the chemical imbalance in his head.  A few months away from it all, some traveling and soul searching and Josh was back to his old self.  The first show was electric and he found the joy in music that he’d lost.

Or, worst of all, Josh returned but with the newfound energy from the medications he was able to make a plan and stick to it.  Waiting, biding his time for when people stopped watching his every move, allowing him to be alone.  It was so easy to fake a happy grin, a joke or two, but he wore a mask on and off stage.  He wasn’t crying for help anymore, and didn’t need to say goodbye this time.  So Tyler wasn’t dragged to when Josh slipped from consciousness.

So Tyler should’ve seen it coming.  Josh didn’t show up for the ride to the venue for soundcheck.  He didn’t notice when everyone else started nervously talking about checking Josh’s hotel room.  Tyler wasn’t part of the group who unlocked the door with a spare key to find Josh in the bathtub again, pretty veins opened the right way, all redness spilled and his body long since cold.

Infinite possibilities.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This hurt a lot to write, and I'm sorry.


	4. Redundant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A break from tour doesn't help separation anxiety when your boyfriend appears to be hiding something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's the fluff I promised you

Josh was acting very, very shifty and Tyler did not like it one bit.

“Where are you going?” Tyler demanded as Josh quickly stood up from the couch and made his way to the bus door.

“Uh, nowhere,” he said unconvincingly.

“Well that’s not suspicious,” Mark shouted from his bunk.

So Josh started giving excuses, though he had terrible follow-through.  When one is sneaking around, when you say you’re going for coffee, it’s a good idea to at least once bring back some actual coffee.  Just fyi.

He didn’t mean to make Tyler paranoid, Josh wasn’t cruel like that, but when Tyler would spring questions about his disappearances on him, Josh had to shake his head with no response.  It was a game for Tyler.  He started by springing the question on Josh when he least expected it; in the middle of conversations, in the shower, being woken up in the middle of the night, on stage and on Twitter (the clique quickly latched on to phrase ‘where do you go, Josh?’ and there was endless internet discourse as to what it meant).

But the joking around was just the surface of the worries Tyler had brewing.  What if Josh was cheating on him?  What if Josh was depressed and shutting him out?  Was Josh going to leave him?  Things would be normal or great even, and then Josh would disappear, or take a phone call and rush off the bus, and Tyler would spiral downward into assuming the worst.

Then there was a break in the tour and Josh was in California and Tyler was alone in Ohio, and it looked like teleportation didn’t work at such a distance ~~not like Josh had been trying lately~~.  Tyler was lonely, even though he lived in a house with a bunch of friends—it just felt like going through the motions.  They hung out, he laughed like he was supposed to, ignoring voices in his head saying that Josh was probably having more fun with other people, that California was full of beautiful people.  He tried not to send too many texts to Josh, not wanting to look possessive or desperate.  Two weeks felt like forever. 

He was lying on his bed thinking of nothing and it was blissful.  The edge of concepts begging to be noticed were ignored.  Tyler felt totally relaxed for the first time in forever, and he wondered if now was a good time to try and jerk off.  Maybe he’d call Josh and see if he wanted to join—the _twistingpressingpull_ was unexpected and left Tyler breathless, believing the house must have caved in on him and he died instantly. 

But no, he was sprawled in the backseat of an unknown car.  Tyler scrambled up to find himself face to face with exactly who he had been thinking about.

“Hey,” Josh smiled triumphantly.

“Don’t tell me you brought me all the way to LA to go for fast food or something.”

“Nah this is Ohio.  Actually, we’re outside your house,” Josh waved to the exterior of the presumed rental car.

“Well that saves me a plane ticket back and having to buy clothes to wear.”

“Don’t pretend you wouldn’t just steal my clothing.”

“Fair point.  Now, where are you taking me?”  Tyler buckled up as the car started moving.

“A surprise,” Josh turned on the radio and ignored Tyler’s questions.  At a red light ten minutes into the ride he grabbed something off of the passenger seat and handed it back to Tyler.  It was a cardboard box wrapped with copious amounts of tape that Tyler fought to peel back. 

“You’re not making this easy for me,” Tyler joked.

“So you’ve been curious about where I’ve been going.  Well I just, like, walk around to clear my head. We go to so many different cities that we don’t ever get the time to see them, and then I just started going into these little shops and, I dunno, I just buy you stuff.”

Tyler opened the box to reveal a collection of different knickknacks; keychains, snowglobes, postcards, bobbleheads, all super cheesy little gifts with name of every city they went to on their last tour.

“Dude…” was all Tyler could manage at the onslaught of relief and happiness.

Josh pulled the car over, and Tyler decided it was safe enough to clamber over into the front seat and hug him.

“I know they’re kinda weird and corny, but—” Tyler grabbed his face and kissed him hard.

Josh only let them kiss for a little bit before drawing away, “Tyler, it is daytime!”

“Drive back to my place and then we can get some privacy,” Tyler wiggled his eyebrows.

“No.  I’ve got one more surprise.”

“But it’s not even my birthday!”  Tyler was bouncing with excitement.

“Get out of the car.”

They were in some random neighborhood Tyler had never been to before.  The houses were nice; not mansions, but just typical suburban homes with well-kept lawns on the edge of the city.

“So I really love living out in LA, but I’m out here for a lot of the time we’re not on tour.  And I’m a bit old to be staying in my parents’ basement.  So I, um, bought a house.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah.  That one, to be specific,” Josh pointed at a beige house right behind Tyler.

“You’re joking.”

“Nope.  I’ve had to do a lot of negotiating on the phone and stuff, but yeah.  That’s going to be my house out here…well and, um yours too _ifyouwannamoveinwithme._ ”

 _Now I cannot speak, I lost my voice_  
_I'm speechless and redundant_  
 _'Cause I love you's not enough_  
 _I'm lost for words_

Tyler was pretty sure he was having a stroke. 

“Won’t you be sick of me?  We’ll be together nonstop.”

“Dude, we’re practically an old married couple already.  I think we’ll be fine,” Josh laughed, “But there is a huge basement if either of us need to hide.”

“Can I see it first?”

Josh looked extremely nervous showing Tyler every inch of the house, sinking into a couch in relief when Tyler pronounced the house ‘super sick’.

“Oh thank God.  I realize I probably should’ve asked your opinion before I bought it but I just really wanted to surprise you,” Josh sighed.

Tyler was already devising how he’d set up a studio in the basement.

“Seriously, pinch me.  I’m dreaming,” Tyler said, and Josh squeezed his butt.

“You own this house, right? Like just you…no realtor is going to be bursting in any minute now?”  Tyler asked.

“Uh, yeah.  Just me. And you.”

“So we’re all alone.  No roommates, no crew members, no family?” Tyler’s grin widened.  Josh nodded slowly, and Tyler grabbed his hand.  “I think we need to inspect the bedroom further.  See if the furniture needs rearranging.  Now.”

* * *

It took a week to move Tyler out of the old house and into the new one, but with the convenience of having Josh a few miles away, Tyler was able to visit every night via their still-mysterious teleportation abilities.  And while they only had one night in the house before leaving for another month straight of touring, it was nice to know they had something to come back to together.  Though, home was wherever they were with each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> was it worth it? (also that last line gave me a cavity, but I was just quoting Josh, that ol' sap)

**Author's Note:**

> shivermepickles/teeentyonepilots on tumblr....as you can see, my ask box is very very open for headcanons and prompts. Please send them to me!


End file.
